Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

Uyuni, Bolivia

We´ve just arrived in Uyuni, Bolivia after a fantastic 3-day crossing of the desert and salt flats in Toyota Landcruisers. It was desert and mountains for the first two days, interspersed with mineral-laden lakes filled with flamingos, boiling geysers and a whole lot of brown sand. We were steadily climbing to a maximum altitude of 4000m, where even tying your shoelaces leaves you short of breath. Quite a few of our group suffered from altitude sickness, with migraines and vomiting being the most common complaints. I was one of the lucky few who escaped any symptoms. We´d been told to expect temperatures as low as minus 10 at night, but in fact it was nowhere near as cold as that, and the two places we stopped at were pretty comfortable, albeit showerless, so we didn´t smell too sweet by Day 3!

But the highlight was definitely the salt flat at Salar de Uyuni on Day 3. It´s the world´s largest salt flat at over 10,000 square kilometres and is the remains of a giant prehistoric lake, Lake Minchin, which existed here about 40,000 years ago. Driving across the middle of it where all you can see is white ground and blue sky was a fantastic experience. And our cooks and drivers were brilliant - the food and service was better than most of what I´ve had in South America to date.

Uyuni itself is a fairly humdrum town, and the difference in affluence between Chile and Bolivia was immediately obvious. And with Carnival coming up in a week or so, the local kids took great delight in pelting the gringos with water balloons as we walked down the main street. I think we´re going to have to arm ourselves. It´s a dog eat dog world out there.

written by

phileasdogg on February 13, 2009 from Uyuni, Bolivia

from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

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Potosi, Bolivia

So the tour rolls into Potosi, allegedly the highest city in the world at 4090m, and once one of the world´s largest and richest cities due to the silver mining that sprang up here in the 1550s. About 45,000 tons of pure silver were mined here between the 1550s and 1780s, but sadly the silver ran out and it´s now a fairly bleak, poor town, with shades of its former glory reflected in some impressive but run-down architecture.

Mining is still the dominant industry in the town, though it´s now lead, tin and other less precious minerals. The conditions in the mines have always been appalling - the Spanish conquistadors initially used indigenous labour to work the mines but as they quickly died they were replaced by imported African slaves who didn´t fare much better - an estimated 8 million miners have died since mining started in Potosi, either in the mines or from silicosis.

We did a tour into one of the mines to see the conditions for ourselves and it was pretty depressing. The miners work in very cramped conditions, chipping away at the rock face with hammer and chisel, with rock dust going into their eyes and mouths (goggles are too expensive and they can´t breathe with masks on). They typically work 12-hour shifts for the equivalent of about US$6. The most depressing sight was kids working down there - we saw one who was 11 years old, dragging a heavy sack of rocks out of the mine shaft. Usually their fathers have died in the mines, so they have to work to support their families. There was a film made about the children miners of Potosi a few years ago called The Devil´s Miner which we watched, but it´s not one to watch if your mood needs improving!

Anyway, we took the miners a "gift pack" each, consisting of crackers, cigarettes, coca leaves, dynamite and a detonator. A slightly surreal assortment of gifts but they seemed to be well appreciated.

written by

phileasdogg on February 15, 2009 from Potosi, Bolivia

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Sucre, Bolivia

Sucre is officially the capital of Bolivia, although unofficially it's La Paz, since that's the main political and commercial commercial centre now. But it's by far the most attractive city we've visited in Bolivia so far, and the nicest hotel too, which is good since we have 3 nights here. Had a cultural tour of the city, taking in a few museums, including the old mint which thanks to its proximity to the silver mines of Potosi, used to produce coins for the majority of the Spanish empire. It's a sign of the country's decline since then that their currency is now produced in France!

And a few of us went mountain biking too. Now I've probably lost a bit of fitness in the past 6 months, but I still don't think I'm in bad shape, but the 3km climb to get out of the city nearly killed me. At 4000m, you just can't seem to get the oxygen into your lungs that your body is begging for. I was reassured to see the local tour guide gasping for breath too, and thankfully the next 20km was downhill, where we met a bus to take us back to the city.

Carnival atmosphere is stepping up, with water pistols and bombs seemingly around every corner now. I think we'll need to arm ourselves for the carnival parade in La Paz.

written by

phileasdogg on February 19, 2009 from Sucre, Bolivia

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La Paz, Bolivia

Hmm, Saturday really wasn't a good day. Our hotel was right on a busy market street, with most stalls selling costumes and other carnival-related paraphernalia. So we went and joined the throng in the morning to get our outfits and weapons. I had my hand on my wallet in my pocket when some guy squirted foam in my ear while shouting "Carnival". I gave him my best good-natured smile, wiped my ear and continued on my way. Anyway 2 minutes later I reached for my wallet and... yep, you're ahead of me. Git! He played exactly the same trick on another guy in our group and relieved him of his camera. I only had about 7 quid in local currency but it also contained both my credit cards, so getting hold of cash will be tricky for the next few weeks. This is where it really helps to be travelling in a group. Another couple offered me the spare card to their account, so I just needed to transfer money in and I was on my way again. Really good of them.

Anyway, that kind of dampened the carnival spirit, but we decided to go and join in anyway. So we donned our clown outfits, loaded up on water bombs and foam sprays and joined the mob. And I do mean mob. A bunch of gringos in the parade was like a red rag to the locals. There was water and foam raining in from all angles. And completely indiscriminate. Foam in the eyes, water bombs thrown at full force from point blank, it was like a war zone. And as if that wasn't enough, some people had what can only be described as golf balls in socks, which were used to whip victims across the back and legs. Seriously, if this happened in Europe there would be riots. And there was nearly one here, as one of our group took exception to one whipping and piled into his assailants. There were considerably more of them than us, so we dragged him out and bobbed and weaved our way back to the hotel. Needless to say La Paz, and Bolivia in general lost its appeal after that.

Thankfully we're moving on to Peru next with a new tour leader, Jennifer, who appears to be missing the fairly basic tour leader requirement of being able to communicate verbally. Every detail of our future plans so far has had to be painstakingly prised out of her. Oh well, things can only get better as D:REAM once reminded us. Although we then got 10 years of Tony Blair.

written by

phileasdogg on February 22, 2009 from La Paz, Bolivia

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Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

a travel blog by phileasdogg

Cars & Girls - Prefab Sprout

Uyuni, Bolivia

Perfect Skin - Lloyd Cole

Potosi, Bolivia

Worried About Ray - The Hoosiers

Sucre, Bolivia

Tonight Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins

La Paz, Bolivia